Inclusion and Opportunity

 

At Taft, we have adopted and implemented a “Play to win” mindset and strategy. Playing to win doesn’t simply mean delivering winning and effective results for our many clients. It also means being a truly “winning” organization in all aspects of what we do.

It is a strategy of constantly raising the bar and measuring Taft against a hypothetically impossible standard to achieve – that of being the best we can possibly be in all that we do.  To do that, we need to embrace, dedicate ourselves to, and treat with great respect all of our personnel, clients, communities, and other important relationships.

And it means teamwork, inclusion, equal opportunity, and meritocracy. When Taft sets the bar impossibly high and then delivers on its goals, every one of our constituencies benefits.

Taft’s five core values include integrity; quality of work; inclusiveness; having a respectful, professional, caring workplace culture; and teamwork. These core values are perhaps best exemplified in the firm’s significant commitment to inclusion. Inclusion and opportunity are not just words to us – in many ways, they are the intangible hallmark and fabric of who we are as an organization.

As part of our ongoing commitment to being the “employer of choice” in each of our markets, Taft attorneys are provided with a 16-week paid parental leave for attorneys and staff, regardless of gender and primary-care status, for the birth or adoption of a child. This policy places Taft at the forefront of supporting families during an important time in their lives and demonstrates the importance we place on work-life balance.

Every day in all that we do, we attempt to create a comprehensive “mindset of inclusiveness,” which means that we strive to be an organization that identifies what we share in common while also celebrating the unique experiences, perspectives, and ideas that define who we are. On a pervasive, firm-wide basis, we believe that an inclusive culture that promotes equal opportunities benefits all Taft professionals, its clients, and its other constituencies by fostering greater teamwork, creative perspectives, and opportunities for professional growth, personal satisfaction, and meaningful community involvement.

Our primary mission remains unchanged — to serve our clients at the highest standard of professional excellence by developing innovative, value-creating solutions that help them reach their goals. We simply cannot achieve our mission without our comprehensive approach to inclusion and equal opportunity and all of the tremendous benefits that brings.

Taft knows that people with varied experiences bring creative thinking, multiple perspectives, and innovative problem-solving techniques to issues in the practice of law. We are committed to fostering a culture among our attorneys and professional support staff that values  all points of view.

The following examples highlight Taft’s efforts to foster inclusion in the firm:

• Recruitment. Taft offers a fellowship program for first year law students. Up to nine fellowships are awarded each year. Taft actively recruits individuals by working with student organizations and attending job fairs, conferences and workshops.
• Mentoring. Successful mentoring requires commitment and trust by both the mentee and the mentor. Each Taft associate is assigned a partner and an associate mentor.
• Retention. Taft’s long-term success relies on retaining attorneys and staff members. We nurture well-rounded professionals from a variety of backgrounds through mentoring, training, and professional development programs. Beyond retention, we provide attorneys and staff members with opportunities to enhance skill sets and grow as professionals.
• Work-life balance. Taft recognizes that a healthy balance between work life and private life is essential to lasting success, for both the individual and the firm. Taft offers alternative work-scheduling programs, remote access, flexible hours, and countless opportunities for meaningful community involvement both within and outside of Taft.
• Promotion and leadership. A variety of professionals are involved in many aspects of firm leadership as practice group chairs, committee participants, and senior management team members. They actively participate in recruiting and mentoring efforts across the firm.

These examples merely provide a snapshot of our commitment to inclusion and equal opportunity in our workplace. We constantly strive to find new and better ways to incorporate those values as a meaningful part of who we are as an organization and how we do business.

Adrian Thompson Chief Inclusion Officer, Cleveland Co-Partner-in-Charge, and Member of Executive Committee	Robert Hicks Taft Chairman and Managing Partner

At Taft, a bright light shines on what really matters — our clients, our attorneys, and our culture.

We know that people with varied backgrounds are an asset to our firm and help us provide the highest level of client solutions and service. We welcome every person’s unique and authentic perspective to advance our mission to best serve our clients and the communities where we work and live. We embrace a broad pipeline of talent by recruiting, hiring, and bringing together exceptional attorney talent to serve our clients. A wide range of experience and skillsets enhances team performance and further attracts superior talent, thus enabling us to serve our clients to the best of our ability.

We are inclusive and strategic about our firm’s leadership composition to ensure that all have an equitable opportunity to advance and thrive in important roles. As careers progress, leadership positions are available to help guide the firm into the future. Taft’s leadership team has the following composition of women, team members of color, LGBTQ+, and other leaders:

Adrian D. Thompson and Janica Pierce Tucker are co-chairs of Taft’s Inclusion and Equal Opportunity Committee, which works in tandem with the Gender Advancement Committee, the Legal Recruitment team, and the Associate Advancement and Recruiting Committee to strengthen our recruitment, mentoring, retention, work-life balance, and leadership goals.

Inclusion and Opportunity Initiatives

Inclusive Growth and Development

Taft’s Inclusive Growth and Development initiative is led by a team of firm leaders who focus their efforts on making Taft one of the top picks for inclusive work teams. Our collective actions enhance individual and firm success through opening the door wider and ensuring that opportunities for advancement are inclusive and equitable for all.

Inclusion Task Force

In mid-2020, we deployed a task force model based on a framework designed around six key themes (Inclusion, Engagement, Innovation, Client Teams, Legal Assistant Model, and Paralegal Model) to strengthen Taft’s culture and training processes across our footprint.

Every day, we strive to be an industry leader in everything we do. Inclusion and equity are not just words to us – in many ways, they are the intangible hallmark and fabric of who we are as an organization, and are reflected in our core values of integrity, quality of work, a respectful, professional workplace culture, and teamwork.

At Taft, the success of women is not just an ideal, it is the reality. We are proud of our efforts to be a leader in women’s advancement. Together we are instilling confidence, exuding excellence, and celebrating the capabilities of our women attorneys.

The mission of Taft’s Gender Advancement Committee, led by partners Tracy Betz and Payal Keshvani, is to develop, promote, and advance women attorneys within Taft, the legal profession, and the community. The committee works with the firm’s executive committee and individual office leadership to identify potential barriers for women’s successes, whether real or perceived, and then to create a plan to eliminate those barriers.

Gender Advancement Initiatives

Modern Workplace Culture

The Gender Advancement Committee focuses on creating a modern workplace culture that is inclusive, flexible, and supportive of a strong work/life balance for all Taft team members. Taft is a leader in the industry with its 16-week paid parental leave policy regardless of gender and primary caregiver status, flexible work options, and a strong history of promoting team members after one or more parental leaves.

The firm partners with two companies to implement additional family-centered paid bene­fits: CorporateCARE Solutions, which offers child and adult back-up care service for all attorneys and staff, and MilkStork, a breast milk storage and shipping program. The introduction of these family-centered paid bene­fits supports an overall productive work-life balance and helps eliminate the stress of travel for new parents.

Leadership

Our leadership positions are open to all eligible attorneys and team members. We value the leadership of all of our team members and understand that promoting the success of our all Taft team members, including Taft’s women attorneys, benefits the entire firm and our respective communities. In 2025, women comprised:

Our women attorneys are also highly accomplished leaders outside the firm, giving their legal talents to community and professional organizations to help them and our communities prosper. We also sponsor professional educational programs to benefit our female clients, and we participate in numerous associations devoted to the advancement of women across multiple industries.

Continued Progress

The Gender Advancement Committee provides programming as part of the firm’s Attorney Retreat. The program provides an opportunity to review national benchmarks; redefine and redesign what makes a law firm great for women; and undertake best practices to attract, retain, and advance women at Taft. A highlight of the program is recognizing Taft’s trailblazers with the Shattered Glass Award. Recipients have made specific strides toward making Taft more inclusive and have actively pushed Taft to elevate the respect, involvement, and leadership opportunities for women attorneys.

Women & Minority Owned Businesses

Taft attorneys understand the unique needs of businesses owned and controlled by women and minorities. We have a practice group that addresses these issues and a number of attorneys who have familiarity with specialized programs and processes designed to benefit women and minority-owned businesses. We help clients negotiate their way through the complex maze of applications and compliance to obtain access to those programs.

Women of Taft Groups

Events and other activities hosted by the Women of Taft in each market are open to everyone and provide impactful professional development programming by offering business and relationship development opportunities and by creating an inclusive, supportive environment for our attorneys and other professionals. We also strive to strengthen existing relationships with women clients who own or manage businesses or other organizations and to forge new and continuing relationships with professional and executive women in our community.

Women of Taft Chicago 
Lead Attorneys:

Nicollette Khuans Partner

Ewelina Mikocewicz Associate

Women of Taft Cincinnati
Lead Attorneys:

Sanna-Rae Taylor Partner

Maggie Otero Associate

Danyel Rickman Associate

Women of Taft Cleveland
Lead Attorneys:

Khouloude Abboud Associate

Julie Crocker Partner

Women of Taft Columbus
Lead Attorney:

Lauren Kemp Associate

Rachel Smoot Associate

Women of Taft Dayton
Lead Attorneys:

Jennifer Brumby Partner

Suzanne Sumner Partner

Women of Taft Detroit
Lead Attorneys:

Nicole MacWilliams Associate

Kimberly Clayson Partner

Women of Taft Indianapolis
Lead Attorneys:

Ann McCready Partner

Christine Walsh Associate

Women of Taft Minneapolis
Lead Attorneys:

Blair Harrington Partner

Amanda Juelson Partner

Women of Taft Mountain West
Lead Attorney:

Mary Sue Greenleaf Partner

 

Accolades

Our efforts have made a difference, as evidenced by several recent accolades:

• Taft has achieved Mansfield Rule 7.0 Certification Plus status, based on Diversity Lab’s yearlong comprehensive review. Taft joined more than 365 firms participating in the certification process. Firms that are chosen for Plus status have met or exceeded the guidelines for transparent communication regarding professional advancement opportunities and considering all firm-wide candidates – including underrepresented lawyers – for leadership roles and activities.
• Taft was honored with a “Your Honor Award” from the Midwest Region of the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) in the virtual client experience category, designed to highlight programs, special projects, initiatives, or processes developed by a law firm to connect with clients as a result of the switch to remote work environments in 2020. The Women of Taft groups in several markets chose to replace their signature Support Her Endeavors (SHE) events with thoughtful gift boxes filled with products purchased from local women-owned businesses.
• Smart Business Magazine recognized Taft Cleveland as one of the region’s four progressive organizations for supporting and promoting women and addressing issues facing them in the workplace.

Partnerships and Organizations

Taft attorneys and staff are involved in multiple civic groups that target diverse populations and those in need across the communities that we serve. Our involvement includes these organizations and more:

• Black United Fund of Michigan.
• Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce.
• Chicago Food Depository.
• Cleveland Municipal Schools-Wade Park K-8 Tutoring Program 100 Black Men.
• Cleveland Open Doors Academy Shoreview Elementary Mentoring Program.
• Cradles to Crayons Chicago.
• Cynthia Blank’s Growing Hearts through Art.
• De Paul Cristo Rey High School.
• Detroit Hispanic Development.
• Habitat for Humanity.
• Holocaust Memorial Center.
• Homefull, Dayton.
• House of Charity.
• Indianapolis Public School (IPS) 58.
• Project Healthy Community – Hope Circles.
• Project Linus.
• Salvation Army.
• Herman House of Cleveland.
• The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.
• The Legal Aid Societies of Cleveland and Columbus.
• The Sandwich Project.
• The Women’s Foundation of Colorado and Law School…Yes We Can.
• Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio.

We invest our time and resources in organizations that enhance professional development and bring opportunities that sponsor and promote inclusion through connections with like-minded professionals. We are active with many impressive organizations, including the following.

• Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
• Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association.
• Charting Your Own Course (CYOC).
• Chicago Minority Supplier Diversity Council (CMSDC).
• Colorado Women’s Bar Association.
• Corporate Counsel Women of Color.
• D Augustus Straker Bar Association.
• Educating Children of Color.
• Greater Cincinnati Minority Counsel Program.
• Greater Cleveland Partnership.
• Hispanic Bar Association.
• Indiana Latino Expo.
• Inside Out Youth Services.
• Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession (IILP).
• Italian American Bar Association.
• Jewish Bar Association of Michigan.
• John Mercer Langston Bar Association.
• Just The Beginning – A Pipeline Organization.
• Lambda Legal.
• La Plaza Night of Americas.
• LGBT Bar Association.
• Midwest Black Law Student Association.
• Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers (MABL).
• Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association.
• Minnesota Lavender Bar Association.
• Minnesota Women Lawyers.
• Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA).
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
• National Association of Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
• National Minority Supplier Council (NMSDC).
• Norman Minor Bar Association.
• Ohio Women’s Bar Association.
• Philippine American Society of Ohio.
• Sam Cary Bar Association.
• Servicios De La Raza.
• South Asian Bar Association.
• Taiwanese American Professionals, Chicago.
• The National Black Lawyers.
• Wolverine Bar Association.
• The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio.
• Women’s Foundation of Minnesota.
• Women Lawyers Association of Michigan.
• Urban Debate League.